Mongols
Mongols '(Mongolian: Монголчууд), are an East Asian and Central Asian ethnic group that lives mostly in Mongolia, China and Russia. There are also, small populations in Kazakhstan owing to historical interactions. Mongols, are known for literally having of the world’s largest empires stretching from southern Russia, all of China into Vietnam and Afghanistan. Mongols, live a unique lifestlye that seperates them from the surrounding East Asian cultures. History & Etymology The etymology of Mongols is unknown today. But before, Mongols were groups of warring tribes in the area of Russia, Mongolia and northern China. Warring groups, such as the Buryats from Russia and Kalmyks from Kazakhstan and the tribes from what is now Mongolia and China often came into contact. Mongols were simply people speaking related Altaic languages, known as the Mongolic languages. Not necessarily the Mongolian language. Genghis Khan united the warring tribes that eventually became today's Mongols.http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=aa76 Under Genghis Khan and his descendants, the Mongols conquered one of the largest empires in all of history. The Mongol Empire stretched from southern Russia, all of China into Vietnam and Afghanistan. Damdin Sukhbaatar, started the Mongolian Revolution, which was an independance movement of Mongolia from China. By Country Mongols, make up the majority population of Mongolia. There are about 3,000,000 Mongols in Mongolia which is the average population of the country.https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/mg.html Mongolia is the one of the world's least populated countries. In China, Mongols are one of the minority ethnicites. But due to China's very high population, there are nearly twice the number of Mongols living in China than there are in Mongolia. There are about 5,810,000 Mongols living in China. Most of them live in China's northern provinces.http://www.china.org.cn/english/features/EthnicGroups/136937.htm In Russia, the Mongols live in the Republic of Buryatia, one of Russia's ethnic republics. The Russian-Mongols are known as Buryats, they speak a Mongolic language different from the Mongolian language itself. There are a small number of Mongols in Kazakhstan, known as Kalmyks who also have Russian populations. Language Mongols speak different dialects all belonging to the Mongolic family of languages. The Mongolian language is the national language of Mongolia and is also spoken by the ethnic Mongols in China. The Mongols living in China speak Chinese as a second language. In Russia, the Buryats speak their own dialect which is not readily inte lligable with Mongolian. The Buryat dialect is a Mongolic language.http://www.omniglot.com/writing/buryat.htm A Mongol from Mongolia or China would not necessarily be able to understand a Buryat or Kalmyk from Russia or Kazakhstan. Buryats speak Russian as a second language. The Mongolian language is written using the Cryllic alphabet. But there was a traditional Mongolian alphabet. This alphabet is now absent in Mongolia today unfortunately. When Mongolia became under Soviet influence, the Russians forced the Mongols to adopt the Cryllic alphabet. The Cryllic alphabet thus remained the official script of Mongolia and still is. The classic Mongolian alphabet is used by the Mongols in China though. The Cryllic alphabet is absent in Inner Mongolia. The Mongolian alphabet was also used for the Manchu language, a former Mongol state in China.http://www.omniglot.com/writing/manchu.htm The Chinese government requires that signs in Inner Mongolia be printed in both Chinese and Mongolian script. Religion & Architecture Most Mongols follow the Tibetan section of Buddhism. The Mongols from Mongolia and China, are mostly Tibetan Buddhists. Tibetan Buddhism, differs from the standard Buddhism from China and India. The Kalmyk-Mongols from Kazakhstan, do have a number of Muslims. In Russia, the Buryats are a mix of Buddhist, Shamanist and Eastern Orthodox. Mongolian architecture highly reflects the way of living. Mongols live a very traditional nomadic way of life. They live in tent-like structures called "gers". Gers are able to withstand the harsh Siberian weather. The architecture of Mongolia reflects ger designs. The Chinese style architecture, is of Buddhist-Chinese influence. In Ulaanbaatar, the capital city of Mongolia; the country's entire history can be seen through its architecture in one view! From a ger, a Buddhist temple, a communist era building and a modern day skyscraper. Cuisine Mongol cuisine correlates with its culture and the nomadic way of life that Mongols live. Temperatures in Mongolia can plummet into dangerously low temperatures. Mongols prefer to eat foods that are high in fat due to the dangerously low temperatures in Siberia. The fat is one of the most favored parts of the meat. Sheep, yaks, beef and mutton are the staple meats in Mongol cuisine. One type of popular Mongol dish is ''buuz. ''These are Mongol-style dumplings. Except instead of using pork, Mongols use mutton or lamb for buuz. Buuz can be steamed, fried (known as ''kuushur) and boiled. Boiled buuz is usually eaten in soups. One popular type of soup is havirigata nogol shul. ''This is sheep rib soup. ''Boortsog ''is a Mongol style biscuit/cookie dessert popular with Kazakhs as well. Fruits and vetgetables are barely found in Mongol style cuisine. The only vetgetable found in Mongol cuisine is potatoes which are usually used as ingredients for soups. Fruits are almost never part of Mongol cuisine. 'Hospitality Mongols are known for their high practice and belief of hospitality. A guest entering a Mongol family's ger/yurt will always be offered something to eat. People are even invited to stay in a ger if it is necessarry. CITATION AND SOURCES